JAMESTOWN (AP) - Farmers Union members upset over a proposal to move the state headquarters to the Bismarck-Mandan area have passed a resolution calling for the resignation of state President Robert Carlson and the executive board.

The resolution was approved Thursday night at the Stutsman County Farmers Union Convention in Jamestown. The group also passed a resolution opposing a move of the headquarters.

Carlson said he was "disappointed" that the Farmers Union group representing Stutsman County passed the resolutions.

"I understand that it grew out of emotion and sorrow that they might lose the office in Jamestown," Carlson said. "I can understand that."

Ousting the group's president and its eight board members "would be quite a decapitation," Carlson said.

The Farmers Union has 40,000 members in North Dakota. Carlson said the Stutsman County group "is one of our larger membership counties in the state."

Carlson said the move still must be approved by Farmers Union delegates, who will hold their state convention next month in Williston.

"Our members will make a rational recommendation based on what's best for the organization," Carlson said. "Others will have different views."

The Farmers Union state headquarters has been in Jamestown since 1927. The group has about 40,000 members statewide.

State Farmers Union Vice President Richard Schlosser of Edgeley explained the reason behind the proposed move to Jamestown-area members, saying Bismarck is the state capital with ready access to politicians, statewide media and various state agencies. He said the area also is a central location for meetings.

"It's about being visible and in the governmental center," Schlosser said.

Stutsman County Farmers Union members said the idea had not been discussed enough, and it showed a lack of appreciation for members from the eastern part of the state. They asked why members learned of the proposal only six weeks before the statewide convention.

Employees at the Jamestown headquarters would receive severance packages, early retirement offers or jobs in Bismarck, Schlosser said, but the details have not yet been worked out because state delegates have not yet voted on the move. About 65 people work at the Jamestown headquarters.

A move out of Jamestown has been discussed before, when the new headquarters was built in Jamestown in the mid-1970s, he said.